Should Archivist Be Concerned About Electronic Storage?

Olsen, F. (1999). The Chronicle: Archivist Struggle to Preserve Crucial Records as Papers Gives Way t Pixels. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http://chronicle.com/free/99/10/99101501t.htm

The work of an archivist is very important; they have to select what records they must keep in order to justify the high costs of storage and more importantly the preservation of the records. They collect valuable memories of the past in order to leave a trace of our information and our past. In this article the author shows the concerns that many archivists had back in 1999 in regards to the digitalization of important information that they have been able to keep alive without using electronic devises. However, as technology has evolved the concern of what types of electronic documents they should try to save and what they can safely discard has vanished. Current technology has allowed the scarcity of space (storage) to disappear. Now this information can safely be saved and preserved electronically with a very low cost. If technology has eliminated the barrier of space and preservation cost, then archivists should not be worried about what they save as they can now have a copy of every generated record.

Is the Internet Space Sustainable for the Freedom in the Commons Model?

Hardin G. (1968). Science Magazine: The Tragedy of the Commons

In this article the author reflects on how the freedom in the commons can affect us in the long run “Freedom in the commons brings ruin to all.” He explains that the problem lands in the system that requires men to increase his herd without limit in a world that has limits. This problem is created by the overpopulation that equals an overpopulated planet where every man wants to consume its resources with no restrictions, but what does this have to do with technology, especially with the freedom in the commons in the internet? If we compare the overpopulated planet with a scenario of an overpopulated internet, does this mean that the freedom in the commons will affect the internet the same way that is affecting the world? If the internet will run out of memory space due to the overloaded information resulted by the freedom in the commons, then networks like Wikipedia that provides freedom in the commons have to evaluate this problem before is too late as the internet world has also its own sustainability limits.

According to Harding if we have a pasture open to all, then every herdsman

Discussion Reflection

The opportunity to learn more about the wireless technology and then shared this information with my classmates was a process that started with the reading materials, the structure of my learning, what to share during the 10 minute presentation, the presentation and then the comments of my classmates after the discussion.

When I read the article for my presentation, at first it was confusing, I didn’t know if it was a historical event full of dates and names, then I read it again and it turn from a historical article to and article of how the wireless technology impacted the American society, all the struggle of the inventors, the technology and government interest and regulation, and how one idea was the base for another innovative idea.

Then it came the decision about what to present, everything was important, so that is when I remember that one of the books, I think it was Zen’s, that if everything was important then nothing was important. I wrote down everything that I thought it was important in terms of relevance to my topic, social impact and government intervention and finally a brief history of the technology itself.  Now how to make it interesting and in 5 Power Point slides.

The presentation was a chalange, I practice it many times and noticed that I was talking for more than 10 minutes, so I have to cut more and more until I made it.  But I must confess that I had to talk fast which it was okay when I practiced it, but when I was presenting that changed, it became a challange that I could have avoided by cutting more.  However, at the end the comments of my classmates were very positive and I felt better about the presentation, but if I have to do it again I’ll definetely cut more material so that I won’t have to speak so fast.

Wireless Technology Communication: Government Regulation and Social Impact

Schwartz R. (1997) a Social History of American technology: Chapter 12 Communications Technologies and social control (pp274-281., New York Oxford: Oxford University Press

I remember the first day when one of my teachers in elementary school told us that the inventor of the color television was a Mexican, Guillermo González Camarena, an engineer. He invented the Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment, this equipment was an early color television transmission system in 1941 (with a U.S. patent application: 2,296,019). As a Mexican, I have always been proud of this. However, in this class I have learned the difference between a new invention and a disruptive innovation. The color television was not a new invention; it was an innovation (disruptive technology). Guillermo González introduced the color television to Mexico, allowing Mexicans to have access to this technology. According to Clayton M. Christensen author of the Innovator’s Dilemma and the Innovator’s solution, he states that “An innovation that is disruptive allows a whole new population of consumers access to a product or service that was historically only accessible to consumers with a lot of money or a lot of skill.”

Disruptive technologies as well as new inventions have been part of us as a society. However, sometimes we don’t know how differentiate one from the other and we don’t really know how these new and disruptive technologies developed, we just use them. In the above example about the color television in Mexico, you can see the confusion I had between a disruptive and new technology and I’m sure that many Mexican still don’t know the difference. Understanding this concept is very important not only for knowledge purposes, but in order to be able to see what is next in terms of technology. Especially in the business area, in order to be able to spot new business opportunities, we have to be able to understand the past and the present in order to see what could be next. In addition, we have to be able to deal with the implications of the government control of these technologies.

On this week reading A social History of American Technology by Ruth Schwartz Cowan, I learned more about were the wireless technology came from. First with the introduction of the wireless telegraphy, then the wireless telephony followed by the wireless broadcasting radio and other electronic technologies like the television and the computer. In addition, I learned about the implications of the government’s control and usage over these technologies . These are a few examples that the author provides in this reading.

Wireless Telegraphy

It begins in Europe:

• A Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell who demonstrated that light was an electromagnetic wave and predicted that similar waves of different frequencies could be generated by electric discharges.

• A German physicist, Heinrich Herts, created an apparatus to generate and measure high and low frequency and was able to send an electric signal from one place to another without wires.

• As a result, years later, Guglielmo Marconi who was studying electricity read about Hertz’s apparatus, so Marconi studied the possibility of sending these electric signals not only in a laboratory, but across mountaintops. After two years he succeeded, he sent messages in Morse code (long and short sparks) as far as two miles and made an apparatus that served as the antenna to receive the waves, accomplishing this way the “wireless telegraphy”.

Social/Government Control

• The British Navy bought wireless equipment to communicate with its imperial fleet.

• The United States wanted this wireless system to communicate with the new overseas possessions ( Philippines, Cube, Hawaii and Puerto Rico).

• Dozens of shipping companies were interested as well as the owners of news papers.

Wireless telephony

Wireless telephony was pioneered by the Americans:

• Few of the young men and women operators realized that the new breakthrough will be to be able to transmit real sounds like voices and music instead of dots and dashes (Morse code).

• One of these young men was Reginald Fessenden by 1900, he reasoned that if wireless telegraphy was possible then telephony wireless was also possible.

• By 1901, Fesseden designed anew receiver that converted high frequency waves that make diaphragms resonate in telephones. By 1906, he sends the first radio messages.

• Lee DeForest invented the audion based on Thomas Edison invention of the light bulb.

• DeForest believed that some day it will be a mass market for wireless telephonic receivers (he was able to see what could be next).

Social/Government Control:

• People could use this radio receivers in their homes

• In 1912 the Titanic Sank and as a result many people using amateur or commercial transmitters started

communication with false good news and false bad news. As a result, journalists began demanding government regulation of wireless communication. The Radio Licensing Act of 1912 was created. Licenses were issued and amateurs could listen in on any frequency, but transmit on only a few.

• The United States government asserted its right to control the airwaves, in the name of public safety.

• In 1915, The Navy began takes control of transmitting station and frequency allocations and all amateurs were ordered off the air.

• Between 1914 and 1916, the government shifts its contracts to American firms and began to take control, in effect to nationalize, all of American Marconi’s transmitting and receiving stations.

• In 1919 with the approval of the president of the United Sates, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was born.

As you can see in the above examples of the wireless telegraphy and wireless telephony, disruptive technologies go beyond just trying to improve an existent technology; it also has social and government implications. People wanted to use the new technology, but the government had to regulate the usage of this technology. And as this week’s reading showed this usage/control was also continued with the radio, television and computer.

References:
Wikipedia (2009). Guillermo Gonzalez Macarena. Retrieved February 1, 2009 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Gonz%C3%A1lez_Camarena

Clayton Christensen (2009). Key Concepts. Retrieved February 1, 2009 from
http://www.claytonchristensen.com/disruptive_innovation.html

Power Point Presentation

Wireless Technology History

Questions from Readings: Week #5

1. In Chapter 7 from Seen What’s Next, Christensen mentions that one of the innovation’s dilemmas in the case of Intel is that Intel continues to improve its technology, but this creates opportunities for upstarts (disruptive entrants) “The very thing that makes Intel great is the very thing that creates opportunities for the attacking firms.” (171). In this regard, how incumbents like Microsoft can protect themselves from the disruptive entrants’ unique skills as the undershot customers shrinks?

2. From Chapter 7 from Seen What’s Next by Christensen: What other circumstances can change the actions follow by a company that were successful in the past that may not be successful in the future, especially in companies like Google in regards to Moore’s Law?

3. In the article As We May Think by Vannevar Bush, the author was able to see or predict what could be next based on the technology available back in 1945. Many of his technological predictions became true. If the internet would have existed back then, what do you think Vannevar Bush would have seeing next after the internet?

4. On chapter 2 from Winston reading, there was a battle between Gray’s and Bell’s innovations back then, if this would have happen now, what are some of the patent regulation laws that could protect Bell?